OVERSEAS

11.18.12

President Obama Visits Thailand

Jewel Samad, AFP / Getty Images

Newly elected, will travel. On Sunday in Thailand, Barack Obama kicked off his first presidential trip abroad since rewinning the office. It’s the first of three Asian nations the president will visit, including Burma and Cambodia. The looming fiscal cliff and the possibility of an expanded conflict in the Gaza Strip cast a dark cloud over the trip, however. The United States has sought to expand its influence in Asia as China has begun to exert an increasing presence in the region.